A Tale from Pinwheel Forest
by StellarWind
Summary: A trainer reminisces about his first battle alongside one of his oldest Originally a post from an RP that died before it even really had a chance to begin, I liked this particular story enough to keep it around in some


"... Well, like I said, Leavanny and I go way back." the trainer nodded as he begun his tale "I first met her when I was a kid and she was still a Sewaddle. I was taking a walk in the forest - as I usually did at the time - and she just randomly walked up to me. I guess she was curious about the strange new creature. I said hello, but she just jumped off back into the trees. I kept on walking - but I couldn't help noticing that she was following me around for a while, staying just barely out of sight... Or trying to, anyway. The next time we met face to face, I offered her this berry I picked - and over time we pretty much just hung out together.

And then one day..."

"Hey, wait up, Sewaddle!" the child laughed as he chased the small Bug/Grass-Type along the forest path, illuminated by the specks of sunlight that filtered through the leaves. It was summer - but here in the shade of the trees it was never too hot and the play of light and shadow was always a wonderful background for adventure.

They were playing another one of their games. The grownups would probably think of it as some form of Hide and Seek - but in the child's mind, he was a Sylvan Knight Trainee and the Wizard Leafcloak the Great was teaching him the ways of listening to the voice of the forest in order to find things hidden among the leaves. Sometimes, they traded places - He would hide, and the Sewaddle would seek him out. She was much better at finding him than he was at finding her, of course, but he was getting better and better at it - enough for the two to decide that it was time to move on to a new area - an unfamiliar area of the forest, with its own trees, each tree with its own song.

To an eight-year-old playing in the forest with his friend, it seemed that nothing bad could ever happen - which is why it struck him as terribly odd that suddenly, the Sewaddle just stopped in her tracks as soon as the path gave way into a clearing. He came to an abrupt, awkward halt of his own right behind the insect Pokémon, regaining his balance just in time to avoid falling. He knew that during their adventures the Sewaddle _would_ occasionally stop to partake of an interesting leaf or two, but that was not it - there was something different this time.

There was another creature in _this _clearing - an odd, humpbacked arthropod, primarily red and green, with black markings and multiple small legs. He recognized it as one of the creatures he's been told to try to avoid - a Venipede. The vivid colors of the creature's exoskeleton were not merely for show - they were warning colors, warning of the creature's poisonous bite. To the child, it seemed pretty big - certainly bigger than Sewaddle - and what's worse, Venipedes were carnivores. It was probably a good thing that the creature wasn't facing in their direction at the moment.

"We should get out of here before it sees us." the child whispered at the Sewaddle. The small insect nodded, and the two silently tiptoed backwards along the path, watching for leaf litter or dry twigs that may give away their position.

Suddenly, one of the strange antenna-like structures on the Venipede's back twitched - and with velocity nearly unbelievable for a creature its shape, the creature turned, regarding the child and the small bug with a lazy yellow glare. The boy froze. Maybe if they didn't make any sudden moves...

_"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_

The Centipede Pokémon emitted a loud Screech - so loud that the magnitude of the sound seemed to knock the Sewaddle back into the boy, who wrapped his arms around her and proceeded to take off on a run, the Bug/Poison-Type bolting after him.

His heart was racing as his eyes seemed to give way to tunnel vision. He had no idea where exactly he was running - he was just following paths, occasionally taking left and rights into branching paths in hopes of losing his pursuer - but the Venipede did not relent. How the hell was this creature so _fast_? In his fight-or-flight daze, he was vaguely aware that the Sewaddle wiggled her way out of his arms and onto his shoulder, facing backwards and firing strands of silk at the Venipede in what could have only been an attempt to slow it down. The Centipede, alas, was fast enough to evade these strands -tearing through them with ease

He noticed the path was coming to an end soon, and that there were two trees by the sides of the path where it passed into another clearing. He had to catch his breath soon - but an idea was formulating in his mind. He still had enough air for this one last sprint...

With energy he wasn't sure he knew where he got, he made a mad dash for the clearing, the Sewaddle hanging on for dear life. As soon as he passed the two trees he started slowing down, calling out.

"String Shot the trees!" he said, and the Sewaddle complied, shaking her head and firing a rapid succession of string shots between the trees, weaving a silken barrier blocking the path - a barrier that the pursuing Venipede proceeded to unceremoniously collide with and bounce off.

The child collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily. Were they safe? He wasn't entirely sure. Everything was a haze. The clearing. It had no other paths leading away from it - only the one they've just blocked. Until the Venipede relented, they could not leave this clearing - and judging by the way the creature continued to slam against the silken barrier, this could take a while.

Sewaddle, too, needed a chance to regenerate some silk. The boy and the Bug/Grass-Type looked at each other. They knew that there was no escape.

"We need to fight this thing, Sewaddle." the boy said, standing up and drawing his sword. "The Sylvan Knights cannot allow a wild monster to chase them away!"

Well, "Sword" wasn't the right word for it. It was actually a couple of sticks tied together with vines and Sewaddle silk, set in a scabbard of woven leaves and vines that he carried around in the forest and practiced dramatic battle moves with - but right now, it was the only weapon he had, save for a few small rocks.

Suddenly, the Venipede's continuous attack on the silken barrier seemed to stop. The boy narrowed his eyes. It couldn't have given up so easily, right? No. It was still there. In the silence, he could almost hear the crinkling of its armor - and he could vaguely see the silhouette of the creature through the curtain of silk. the hump on its back was swelling. What was the thing doing?

Suddenly, there was a wet squelching sound followed by a hiss as the Venipede sprayed a glob of fluid from its mouth which proceed to impact the silk, melting through it like acid. The Venipede burst into the clearing - and it was pissed off.

"Get ready, Sewaddle..." the child murmured, clenching his wooden sword tighter in his hands as his muscles tensed. He was aware of the danger. The Venipede will not hold back. This was a real fight. There was no where to run. He had to win this. Had to. He had to protect his friend and no mean old Venipede will eat her!

The Venipede made its move. Its carapace swelling again, the creature emitted a volley of glowing pink needles in the Sewaddle's direction. The boy rushed, sword drawn, taking a few swings at the needles as if he was blocking the volleys of weakened Razor Leaves - unable to actually cut - that the Sewaddle occasionally threw at him when he practiced his "swordplay" as a target. Some of the needles were knocked away, while others embedded deeply within the sword and only narrowly missed his arm. Another volley, on a wider spread. The Sewaddle and the trainer rolled in opposite directions, narrowly evading the blast. The boy rushed forward, sword raised, preparing to strike, when the Venipede dashed forward, preparing to tackle. Noticing this, the boy flung his sword forward directly at the poison-type's face, as he scampered and rolled to the side.

The sword impacted with all the magnificent magnitude of a pair of sticks thrown by an eight-year-old, not even denting the Venipede's thick carapace. However, the pink needles embedded in the sword - remnants of the Venipede's deflected Poison Sting attack - did. Though obviously immune to its own toxins, some of the needles hit the creature's sensitive eyes. The Venipede screeched again, temporarily blinded and enraged. Its carapace swelled again as it fired another wide volley of needles in the direction it last saw the boy rolling to. The boy's eyes widened - even if he rolled away there was no way he could avoid those, unless...

A volley of leaves from no where. It was the Sewaddle, leaping to the boy's defense, unleashing a Razor Leaf attack. The leaves flew at a wide angle, some colliding with the needles and knocking them away from their desired target, some crossing the barrage and impacting its originator... only to bounce harmlessly off the Venipede's exoskeleton. Not that a Grass-type attack would, on the whole, damage a Bug/Poison-Type all that much - but they had to work with what they were given.

"Thanks, Sewaddle." the boy sighed with relief, looking over his brave compatriot to make sure she wasn't hit by any stray needles. She wasn't. He then proceeded to gaze at the Venipede. The creature was positively fuming, uncertain where to direct its next attack, torn between rage and hunger - they could use this uncertainty against it. Quickly, the boy turned his eyes to the ground not too far from there - his sword was there, still intact, though the handguard branches were a bit wonky.

Suddenly, he grinned. He had an idea. Even the most powerful armor must have had a weak spot - and with such a heavy armor on its back, the creature's underside would probably need much flexibility for it to be able to move that fast. That had to be it - their shot.

"I have an idea - I'll get its attention. You wrap it up!" he said, and the Sewaddle nodded in preparation. "Meet you on the other side of the clearing!"

He picked up a few rocks off the ground - not too large, but not too small either. Perfect throwing size.

"Hey!" he cried out and flung a rock at the Centipede, hitting it squarely on its hump.

The Centipede hissed. _THAT _decided it.

"NOW!" he said, and bolted in one direction of the clearing as the Sewaddle bolted in the other. The Venipede gave chase as the boy continued taunting it and throwing stones at it while running. The Sewaddle, in the meantime, was running in their direction, building up silk. Blinded by its rage, the Venipede was so focused on the young human throwing rocks at it that it failed to notice the Sewaddle coming in from the other side.

As their paths crossed, the boy made a break for his fallen weapon as the Sewaddle fired a massive array of silken strands directly at the Venipede's face. The raging creature stumbled, vision clouded, antennae bound together, disrupting its sensory world. The Sewaddle made a break to the side, firing more sprays of silk, entangling the poison-type more and more. The Venipede screeched, knocking away some strands, leaping up to the best of its capability with a tackle, only narrowly missing the Sewaddle which rolled to the side, firing another String Shot. The Venipede crashed to the ground, struggling against its bindings. It was just the right amount of delay that the boy needed to reclaim his sword. He could already see the Venipede's carapace beginning to swell.

Now was the time.

He made a wild dash towards the Venipede, sword at hand, preparing to aim low. Everything seemed to happen terribly quickly and terribly slowly at the same time - he only had one shot at this.

"Sewaddle, the underside!" he yelled, and swung the sword, striking an upward blow from the Venipede's legs up, knocking the venomous bug into the air. For a creature so heavily armored, it was surprisingly light - or maybe it was simply the adrenaline talking.

And as the Venipede burst out of its silken prison in midair with a spray of fluid emitting from its mouth...

It was treated to a unrelenting flurry of razor-sharp leaves directly to its soft underbelly, knocking it further up as other leaves took the brunt of the poisoned liquid, shielding the boy and the Sewaddle from its effects. The creature screeched loudly as the leaf barrage continued, but to no avail.

Then the flurry subsided. Continuing along its arcing trajectory, the Venipede collapsed on the complete other end of the clearing, rolled into a ball and fled the scene. It has taken enough damage to consider the continued attack not worth the effort.

They had won.

"YES!" the child cried out, and the Sewaddle emitted its own happy vocalization as the two struck a triumphant pose. In his mind, he could hear a victory fanfare. They stood there for a little while, laughing happily. Then, as the laughter subsided, the boy turned his eyes to the Sewaddle, crouching down so it could look directly into its eyes.

"Hey. You were amazing back there, Sewaddle." the boy grinned "Thank you."

The Sewaddle emitted a small chirp, and the two touched foreheads - a gesture of familiarity and friendship. After this battle - defending each other in the field of honor against a real foe - the two knew that their friendship and alliance will remain forever.

And then, the child looked to his sword. The makeshift weapon was in a sorry state - the "blade" was full of little burned pinpricks where the poison needles once were and was all but broken at the point where it impacted the Venipede - the poison needles must have destabilized it. The handguard branches were rather twisted as well. He sighed a little - It was just a silly couple of sticks, but it was still an instrument of their mutual triumph.

Suddenly the Sewaddle chirped - and with a quick motion, she got to work, using silk and leaves to mend the fractures and reinforce the sword, giving it an improved grip as well. The boy's eyes widened as the small insect finished her work, emitting a few happy chirps.

"You're the best, Sewaddle." the child grinned, and with the Sewaddle clambering to the top of his head, the boy raised his Sylvan Saber up to the sky and called out "We're the best!"

"And that's how it happened." the trainer smiled as his reminiscence faded "It was our first real Pokémon battle - even if I battled almost just as much as she did. Of course, we were pretty lost afterwards."

He chuckled softly.

"And then this pair of teal eyes shines out of no where - and out from behind the trees, Shu'al walks out. My dad's Zoroark, that is. He was there for the whole thing. Watching us, ready to intervene in case things took a turn for the worse beyond what we could handle - but not before that. He's like that, the old fox - major battle veteran. I could tell he was proud of me. Of us, really. He led us out back to the main path. Sewaddle headed back into the forest, and I went home. After that, things were a bit more fun - my parents started teaching me some more interesting battle techniques so if I get caught up in a situation like this again, I'd have less chances to have such a close call. As for me and Leavanny... We trained and evolved together really." he grinned "Of course, as I grew up, I found myself taking more to the pencil than to the sword... And one day, Leavanny and I found our way back to that clearing and stuck the sword into the ground - a tribute of sorts to our first victory. That was years ago. A lot has happened to us since, and a lot more happened in the forest... But last I checked, it was still there."


End file.
